Writing Contest – Longhand Fiction | Literature and Libation

A writer’s notebook is a bucket. An empty vessel kept around to catch any pieces of soul or brain or life that might shift loose during daily adventures. It is, next to pen and ink, one of the most important tools in the literary tool chest. Even if your preferred method of writing is through quick and practiced QWERTY, a notebook is a must for scribbles, doodles, fragments, and away from keyboard inspiration.

To encourage the use of these paper purveyors of personal permanence, the next Literature and Libation writing contest will focus on the use of writing with pen and paper.

The rules are simple:

Write a short story of at least 300 words, but no more than 1200 words
Some of your story must be written longhand (it can be the original idea, story notes, the first sentence, the whole first draft, whatever works for you)
Include a picture of your hand-written content with your post as proof (a post without a picture doesn’t count)
Post it on your blog and drop a link to it in the comments of this post

Submissions are due Monday, July 15, by 11:59 PM, EST (two weeks from today). Anyone and everyone with a story is encouraged to enter. I’m not mean and don’t bite on not-Full moons. Don’t be shy!

Once I’ve received all the stories, I’ll create a poll so we can vote for our favorites.

Two winners – one selected by popular vote, the other by me in a completely unfair and subjective manner – will receive free editing on the submitted story and another of their choosing. For testimonials to the quality of my edits, please ask previous winners JC (of One Writer and His Blog) and Doug (of Baltimore Bistros and Beer).

To prove I’m a fully licensed practicer of what I preach, here is the rough draft of my short story Blueberry Hill that will be featured in issue 15 of Outside In Literary and Travel Magazine. (Yes, that is really what my handwriting looks like. My dad says it looks like a drunk spider wandered into an inkwell and then across the page. Pretty accurate, I guess.)